It has been a rough week. A little over a month ago, I adopted a little green cheek conure named Turnip. He was energetic, sweet, charming, and an absolute weirdo — but long story short, despite the weeks and weeks of working with him (on my own and with a parrot behavior specialist), he was unhappy whenever I’d have to leave him to go to work, run errands, or basically do anything other than be right there with him. He apparently made a big fuss whenever I was gone, and so he had to be rehomed for the sake of his own sanity and that of my neighbors.
We had bonded fantastically, to the point where if he was getting outside time and I left the room to go attend to something else and took “too long” to return, he’d come searching for me. There have been more than one occasion when I was in the kitchen washing up only to find him crawling up my leg like a little feathery Spider-Man. Awwww.
I said goodbye to Turnip last Tuesday night. I have been stressed out over all of this for weeks, and now there’s not much to show for it other than the Turnip-shaped hole in my heart and the empty space in my living room where he used to be.
…And the giant bag of green grapes in my fridge — they were his absolute favorite. It seems only right to do something with the rest of his grape stash. So here’s a little panna cotta grape dessert to remember you by, Turnip. May your next human love you as much as I did.
Turnip’s Panna Cotta with Roasted Green Grapes in Honey
Barely adapted from Martha Stewart
Yields: About 10 servings
Total Time: 1 day, 4 hours, 30 minutes (including marinating and setting time)
For the grape topping:
White wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
Handful of green seedless grapes
2-3 tbs honey
For the panna cotta:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved
1 1/2 scant tsp unflavored gelatin
2 tbs cold water
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 scant cups buttermilk
Marinate the grapes in the white wine. To do this, just put the grapes in a jar and cover with white wine. Stash in the fridge for at least overnight, or for up to 3 days.
Bring the vanilla bean (with seeds and pod) and heavy cream to a simmer. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid, and let it steep for 10 minutes. While that’s happening, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let it soften for about 5 minutes.
Add the softened gelatin and dark brown sugar to the heavy cream mixture and whisk until all the sugar and gelatin is dissolved. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the heavy cream mixture into a bowl and discard the solids, but do this as carefully as possible to avoid making bubbles. Let this cool until it’s only barely warm.
Gently stir in the buttermilk — again, do this carefully to avoid creating bubbles. Gently pour this into 10 individual ramekins or into a decorative pie dish. Cover with plastic and let it set up in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
On the day you plan to serve this, prepare the grape topping. Preheat the oven to 425* F, put the grapes on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes, giving the pan a shake about halfway through.
Let the grapes cool, and scatter them on top of the panna cotta. Heat up the honey for a few seconds in the microwave and drizzle it on top of everything else. Enjoy!
